Italian lawmakers have decided to visit Russia’s Crimea, a member of the international committee of the Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies, Manlio di Stefano, said.
According to him, the eight- to ten-strong Italian delegation will be led by a member of the parliament’s Foreign Relations committee, Alessandro di Battista. Senator Sergio Divina of the anti-EU Northern League party also plans to make the trip, Kommersant daily reports.
The delegation will travel to Crimea via Russia. The Italian lawmakers wanted to see for themselves "how people live in Crimea after the 2014 referendum."
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry slammed the visit as a “show of disrespect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and a blatant violation of Ukrainian law” and the French Foreign Ministry described the MPs' trip to the peninsula as a violation of international law.
